Pickup trucks are well known. They comprise a vehicle having a cab for seating a number of passengers and a generally open bed or box which extends rearwardly from the cab to the rear of the vehicle. The box forms a cargo space for carrying many types of items or materials. The rear end of the box is enclosed by a pivotal endgate which is pivotal between one of two positions. The first position is an upright latched position in which the endgate extends across the rear of the box and serves to enclose and form the rear end of the box. The second position is a horizontal position in which the endgate has been folded down to allow access to the truck box.
It is often desirable to use the box of a pickup truck to carry various items of outdoor power equipment, such as lawnmowers, snowblowers or the like. Many truck boxes are large enough to carry even small riding lawnmowers or tractors. The purpose of loading such items in the truck is to transport them over relatively long distances, e. g. between job sites in the case of someone who is in the business of cutting grass, etc. It is difficult, if not impossible, to load a riding lawnmower or the like into the truck when the truck is equipped with the original equipment endgate.
Various endgates have been proposed for pickup trucks which convert into a ramp to ease the task of loading vehicular and other equipment into the truck box. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,727,781 to D'Eath discloses a sectional endgate that when folded out forms an inclined ramp extending downwardly to the ground. This allows easier loading of equipment and the like into the truck box. For example, riding lawnmowers and the like could simply be driven up the ramp and into the box when the ramp is folded down.
While ramps that also serve as endgates are known for use on pickup trucks, the currently existing products of this type have various disadvantages. For example, the manufacturers of pickup trucks use different types of latch mechanisms located at different heights for use in latching their original equipment endgates. In the past, each endgate that was convertible into a ramp has been manufactured with a locking means located at the appropriate height for mating with the latch mechanism for a particular model of truck. Thus, different endgates had to be manufactured for different models of trucks in order to properly locate the locking means at the proper heights. This is obviously disadvantageous in that many different models of endgates had to be manufactured and stocked.
Furthermore, prior convertible endgates were relatively heavy and difficult to unfold and position. Moreover, the prior art endgates converted into ramps forming a single inclined surface extending at the same angle relative to the ground. If a riding lawn mower was being loaded into the truck box, the constant, relatively steep pitch as the mower was being driven up the ramp and into the truck box made it difficult to see into the truck box and to properly maneuver the mower into the truck box. This could be unnerving and even dangerous, particularly for an unskilled or inexperienced operator. Finally, many of the handle assemblies for releasing the locking means in prior art convertible endgates were inconveniently located and difficult to operate.